Barbara Walters announces on "The View" that next summer she will retire from TV journalism. / Lou Rocco ABC

by Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

by Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

After breaking the news Sunday night, Barbara Walters, 83, made it official on Monday's episode of The View.

Her retirement announcement was the big Hot Topic of the day.

"So here, it goes," she said introducing in a taped segment, reviewing her career, starting with the Today show in 1961, when she was an on-air reporter and writer. She stayed for 15 years, which was surprising, she said because "I wasn't beautiful like many of the women on the program before me, I had trouble pronouncing my R's, I still do." She said she got the category for women on TV changed from "Today girls" to "co-hosts."

She said she left NBC for ABC to cover the news in 1976, where she was the first female anchor on an evening news program. She reviewed many of her work highlights and the movers and shakers she interviewed on 20/20 and on her Oscar specials. "I've talked with great stars from Bette Davis to Angelina Jolie, from Clint Eastwood to the two Toms - Hanks and Cruise, and so many others." She has interviewed presidents and heads-of-state, but says that her most-watched interview to this day is her 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky. In 1997, she and Bill Geddie created The View. She thanked all involved in the show.

After the crowd cheered at the end of the segment, she said, "I have been on television continuously for over 50 years!"

She went on to say, "In the summer of 2014, a year from now, I plan to retire from appearing on television at all. It has been an absolutely joyful, rewarding, challenging, fascinating and occasionally bumpy ride. And I wouldn't change a thing. I'm perfectly healthy. This is my decision. I've been thinking about it a long time. This is what I want to do."

As for The View, she said she would continue as co-executive producer with Geddie "as long as the program is aired." She said she'll "come back" at times. "I'm not walking into the sunset."

But, she clarified, "I don't want to appear on another program. I don't want to climb another mountain. I want instead to sit in a sunny field and admire the very gifted women - and ok, some men, too - who will be taking my place."

She added, "I've had an amazing career - beyond anything I could have imagined."

When Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked about making the decision, Walters said, "I know it's time. I want to leave when people are still saying, 'Why is she leaving?' instead of 'Why doesn't she leave!?"